Yesterday as I watched the morning news on SABC I came to learn that there were Ugandan Jews. Ok I had heard of Ethiopian Jews but not Ugandan Jews. The Ugandan Jews are called "Abayudaya". There are about 700 Ugandan Jews. I think they mainly come from Eastern Uganda. The "rabbi" said that the Abayudaya started in the days of Semei Kakungulu. The significant difference between the Abayudaya and Christains is that they practice Judaism. They say all the Jewish prayers. when they raise their heads to the heavens in prayer, their God is not Allah or any tribal spirit, but the God of Israel. They set themselves apart through devout Judaism and their adherence to the belief.
The Abayudaya’s Judaism begins from birth, when males are circumcised on the eighth day (unlike local Bagisu youth whose traditional religion dictates circumcision in the fifteenth or sixteenth year.) Abayudaya children grow up with a distinct awareness that they are Jews. They sing Jewish songs, some in the local language of Luganda, others in Hebrew with Lugisu/Lusamya melodies written by community members.Being Jewish is a consistent and conscious part of life as an Abayudaya. Daily Jewish observances do continue to set the Abayudaya apart from their neighbors. Most Abayudaya keep kosher according to Talmudic law. Abayudaya slaughter their own animals according to Jewish custom and will not eat pig products. Jews do not participate in local Basigu circumcision rituals, nor do they follow the popular Christian and Musilim holidays of their neighbors.
Like many African Jews, the Abayudaya adherence to the belief is that they will become an accepted part of the international Jewish community.